Thursday, May 07, 2009

Lutsenko's drinking adds another twist to political uncertainty

Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Lutsenko's and his son's drunken behaviour at Frankfurt airport could have serious political consequences. Lutsenko is leader of the 'NS' or Narodnya Samooborona' part of NUNS. Ominously, his people are already saying nothing happened in Frankfurt, and that the "incident"was nothing but dirty tricks by the opposition.

If his parliamentary Nasha Ukraina and BYuT partners decide support PoR's call to sack him he could bring down the whole flimsy ruling coalition.

6 comments:

elmer
said...

Well, it doesn't say anything about drinking.

And, whoa there, PoR, just a minute - why would anyone support anything that the thugs from PoR howl about? These are the same thugs that robbed Ukraine blind, and continue to do so, with people blowing up in mines.

These are the same thugs, that under Kuchma, engineered Gongadze's (the journalist who co-founded Ukrainian Pravda) beheading.

There's absolutely no cause to remove Lutsenko here.

If he and his son were drunk - well, that's what everyone in Ukraine does.

If that is the case, he and his son should admit their mistake, apologize, and move on.

The decision of the Constitutional Court comes as no surprise but is of no comfort to Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko, either

Yushchenko in a desperate attempt to cling on to power for an addition three months, will force Ukraine to the polls in the midst of Ukraine's bitter cold winter. With temperatures well below freezing a January Election is not going to improve Yushchenko chances of a surprise victory. Recent opinion polls indicate a public support for Viktor Yushchenko as low as 2.2%.

The last things Ukraine needs is a prolonged Presidential campaign.

The sooner Ukraine can go to the polls and elect a head of state the better off Ukraine will be.

A prolonged campaign would only add to the political and economic uncertainty.

If Yushchenko cared for Ukraine and upheld democratic values he would realise he will not win a second term of office and he would offer his resignation so as to pave the way for an early presidential ballot in Autumn.

Do not expect Yushchenko to act in the best interest of Ukraine. In fact we can expect that things will get worst as Yushchenko once again, in an act of desperation, seeks to destabilise Ukraine and try and force another round of Parliamentary elections.

In 2007 Victor Yushchenko unconstitutionally dismissed Ukraine's previous Parliament throwing Ukraine into seven months of political turmoil and civil unrest. In 2008, Yushchenko then sought to dismiss Ukraine's current parliament in order to prevent the parliament from reaching consensus and support for Constitutional change.

Yushchenko's planned Presidential coup was derailed when his own political faction rebelled and rejected his attempts to dismiss the Tymoshenko lead Government.

Recent events in Germany has seen one of the main leaders of the Presidential rebellion, Ukraine's Interior Minister - Yuri Lutsenko, forced to resign.

Those connected to the President are expected to use Lutsenko's resignation as a means to further destabilize Ukraine in the hope of resurrecting Yushchenko's proposed Presidential coup and the possibility of extending Yushchenko's term of office.

If Yushchenko is to try and make a move he will have to do so before July. Come July the President loses the authority to dismiss Ukraine's parliament. (Ukraine's Constitution Article 90)